


It Will Come Back

by within_a_dream



Category: Ghosted (TV 2017)
Genre: Comes Back Wrong, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 16:56:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16499186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/within_a_dream/pseuds/within_a_dream
Summary: Leroy's partner comes back, and at first it's a dream come true. Then it's more of a nightmare.





	It Will Come Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [telm_393](https://archiveofourown.org/users/telm_393/gifts).



By the time the knock on the door came, Leroy already regretted inviting Max over. He’d been looking forward to enjoying a monster movie marathon on his own and forgetting about work for a while, but Max had done that thing where he kept asking what Leroy had planned for the weekend until Leroy felt obligated to invite him. He just couldn’t face Max’s puppy dog eyes, and he couldn’t explain why it felt so wrong to invite someone else, not without earning way more pity than he felt like dealing with.

The man at the door was impossible. Leroy must have fallen asleep while waiting for Max, or else he’d gone off the deep end.

“Aren’t you going to let me in, Leroy?”

Leroy stepped aside and let his old partner walk in.

“What’s wrong, man? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Leroy couldn’t bring himself to state his doubts. He had the feeling that if he said the wrong thing, Isaiah would drift away like dust on the wind. “Just wasn’t expecting you, that’s all.”

“I wouldn’t miss movie night for anything!”

Isaiah _had_ missed their monthly movie night, for years, on account of being dead and buried. But Leroy didn’t want to talk about that. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said instead, the words coming out too flat.

Isaiah didn’t notice. He plopped down on the couch, gesturing for Leroy to join him.

Just as Leroy was about to, someone else knocked at the door. Damn it, he’d forgotten he invited Max.

He opened the door a crack. “Listen, Max, something came up—”

Max was inside before Leroy could stop him. “Who’s ready for movie night? I brought popcorn.”

Leroy was about to explain who exactly was sitting on his couch, but by the time Max got to the living room, Isaiah was gone.

“You okay, buddy?” Max looked over at him.

Leroy shook his head. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

 

After Max left, Leroy found an open window in his kitchen and a bootprint on the counter. The rational part of him knew this wasn’t Max’s fault, but Leroy still hated him for it.

 

The next time Isaiah showed up, Leroy was at work. He and Max were chasing down some sort of furry creature a woman had called into the Bureau after it ate her prized tulips – well, Max was chasing it down while Leroy hung back, because he was pretty sure it was just a deer with mange. Max was long out of sight when Leroy felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, expecting Max to have come back around somehow without him noticing, and saw Isaiah.

“Pretty far from the LAPD, huh?” he said.

“Better than being a mall cop, though,” Leroy said.

“I’m sorry, man.” Isaiah patted Leroy on the shoulder, and Leroy shivered. Isaiah’s touch seemed to burn through his clothes like frostbite. “But a living’s a living, right?”

“You been to see Rose and Jermaine yet?”

Isaiah shook his head. “You really think they’d be happy to see me? They’ve moved on.”

Leroy thought that they’d be absolutely thrilled, but he didn’t want to argue. “Why haven’t you? I mean, you were dead, Isaiah. I saw you die.”

“Let’s not talk about that.” Isaiah hugged him, and Leroy felt his teeth start to chatter despite himself. “I’ll catch you at home later, when you’re off work?”

Leroy nodded. “I’ll be there.”

“Hey, Leroy! Are you coming? I couldn’t catch it, I think it went that way.”

Leroy turned to look at Max, ready to explain just who the guy standing next to him was, but when he turned back, Isaiah was gone. “Max?”

“What’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“Funny story, actually.” Leroy scanned the street, trying to spot Isaiah to no avail. “Did you see the man with me?”

“Uh, no.” Max glanced around too. “I haven’t seen anyone.”

“Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but my partner was just here.” He explained what had happened over the past few days, figuring he owed Max the truth.

Max didn’t believe him. He tried to sound supportive, even managed to keep the doubt off his face (which was saying something given how bad his poker face usually was), but Leroy could tell. Not that it mattered – he might prefer Max not believing him anyway. If Max believed him, he’d want to explain what Isaiah was doing back, and that might get Isaiah dead again. Better to have Max doubt him and Isaiah stick around.

 

Leroy waited until nearly midnight before Isaiah showed up. He let him in, and Isaiah grabbed his arm.

“A little tight there, buddy,” Leroy said, trying to pull away.

“It’s your fault I died.”

Leroy had thought that himself, more times than he wanted to count, but Isaiah saying it stabbed him right in the gut. “I would do _anything_ to change things.”

Isaiah drew him closer, and the stabbing in Leroy’s gut wasn’t so metaphorical anymore. Isaiah wasn’t touching him apart from the hand on his arm, but Leroy felt like he’d been shot, only cold spread across his stomach instead of the warmth of blood. “You were out here living while I was in the ground, and look how you’ve wasted it. First a mall cop, then the Ghostbusters’ token police officer.”

Leroy gasped as the pain in his abdomen grew, and would have doubled over if Isaiah wasn’t holding on to him. “You don’t want to do this.”

Isaiah smiled coldly. “I thought you’d do anything to change what happened.”

Before Leroy could register what had happened, Isaiah hissed and drew back. Standing behind him was Max, an empty plastic container in his hand. Without thinking, Leroy tackled Isaiah to the ground, pinning his arms behind his back. More members of the Bureau came bursting through the door, cuffing Isaiah and dragging him away.

Leroy sat back, and Max joined him on the floor.

“You saved my life,” Leroy said, hoping Max could hear the thanks he couldn’t find the words to express.

“I was worried about you after this afternoon, so I hung around your house for a while and let Lafrey know we might have something weird on our hands. I’m sorry your friend turned out to be some sort of weird demon-thing.”

Leroy dragged his finger through the powder on the ground. “Salt?”

“It’s supposed to ward off evil. I figured there must be _some_ truth in the folklore.”

“And it’s pink because…”

“Look, Himalayan rock salt just tastes better! It was all I had at home. You owe me ten dollars for that, by the way.”

“You paid ten dollars for your salt?”

“It’s better than the regular stuff!”

“No salt is ten dollars better.” Leroy laughed. “I’ll give you the ten bucks though. You _did_ save my life.”

“You should buy a bag for yourself. You’ll never go back, man.”

“That ain’t gonna happen.” Leroy hadn’t even been sorry to see Isaiah go, he realized. He still wished his partner hadn’t died, he always would, but he’d been gone for years now, and Leroy had a new partner. As annoying as Max could be, he _was_ Leroy’s partner, and Leroy wouldn’t trade him for the world.

Max was way less likely to come back from the dead and try to murder him, too.

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't resist writing some came-back-wrong fic for your prompts, although it took a little longer than I'd anticipated. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title stolen from a Hozier song.


End file.
